Outside the Glass
by LittleAwkwardChild
Summary: Shell a Moorish Idol finds herself back where she started, a fish tank. This time, the fish with her are determined to escape. Join Shell in her and the loveable Tank Gang's journey to escaping the Aquascum and get back to the Ocean. Possible Gill/OC Set in the time after Nemo gets rescued
1. Chapter 1

The fishing grounds teemed to the brim with fish. Most had a gray sheen, but a few, loners from the reef and other tropical waters, swam about. One of these fish was a petite Moorish Idol, her long dorsal fin drifitng in the calm waters. She came from a pet store, up in Sydney but after the human child who bought her saw pictures of the reef that she would've lived in, felt bad a released her to the sea.

While a kind gesture, in hindsight, this fish had never lived anywhere other than her tank, and found herself quite confused and lost. Her name was Shell.

Her small ruby eyes looked at the fish teeming about. It was strange, being free, out of the confines of the tank. She figured she should attempt at a way home. But what exactly was her home?

Confused, she continued to swim about, enjoying the water over her scales.

A sudden commotion caused her to stop. She looked behind her, and say a bunch of fish swimming toward her. She stared at them curiously and began to make her way toward them. "Maybe they know where people like me are supposed to live." she thought aloud.

"Hey little fish, you're going the wrong way! Turn around!" A larger fish yelled at her.

She stared at him, then looked back ahead at the swarm of fish. Then she saw it. A giant net looming toward her, scooping fish into its maw. Shell turned tail and tried to swim away, but found herself caught in the net.

"Help!" she cried, terrified, and crushed by the weight of all the other fish. The net began to rise up, bringing the fish to the dreaded world of the humans. She felt cool air hit her gills, and soon she was gasping for breath with all the fish around her. The net lowered them onto the fishing boat.

Shell gasped and flopped on the wooden planks.

"Hey Jimmy, woulda look at that? Caught a tropical fish again. Pretty far from home aren't you little fella?" A human gently picked her up.

"Bet we could make a good load of money off of him." his friend looked over at him. "Here, put him in Jill's fish bowl, we'll see if we can sell it."

Shell felt herself getting lowered into a glass container. Her lungs inflated with oxygen. She gleefully swam about the small space, glad to finally breathe again. Shell then looked at all the other fish caught with her. They were being thrown into boxes, any hope of getting to the ocean diminishing from their frightened eyes. "Horrible isn't it?" she heard a feminine voice behind her. She spun around and saw a Striped Surgeonfish smirk at her. "Now try facing it everyday. Makes you think how lucky you are to be rescued."

"Who are you?" Shell asked the surgeonfish. "You don't look like the fish they caught..."

The surgeonfish laughed. "I'm not young Idol... I'm really not. I'm from the Great Barrier Reef. Same place your kind come from. And I'm Sem by the way. Stupid humans always call me Jill for some dumb reason. The caught me the same way they caught you. I had been on a trip to visit some friends up near Queensland, when I got caught in a net. They saw me, and seeing that I wasn't a food fish, placed me in a bowl with some water, and bring me along on their fishing outings."

Shell just stared at Sem. "I'm not from the reef, I come from a pet store in Sydney but someone set me free. I'm Shell by the way." she held out her fin.

Sem smiled and shook it gently. "Then you must be quite the confused lass." she chuckled. "So an Idol eh? Not to common where I come from. How old are you?"

Shell pondered that for a moment. "Five years... I think. Time can be hard to guess when you live in a tank your whole life."

Sem laughed. "I know that feeling. I hate this tiny bowl. I'd give my right fin to go back to the ocean, but what can I do? If I try to hop out I'll just die on the decks. At least this way I don't need to worry about food, or getting eaten by a shark."

Shell nodded. The two of them continued to talk until the ship returned to the harbour. Jimmy, the larger of the two took his cell phone and made a call. Soon after, he walked toward the bowl holding Shell and Sem. "Hey there little fishie. I found a new home for you. Idol's need space and little Jill's bowl just doesn;t do it for ya. I called my friend Phil, he'll take care of ya until I can find a big enough tank for ya."

Shell gave a startled look at Sem, who gave a worried glance back. "I haven't heard to much about this 'Phil' guy, except that he has a huge fishtank. Soundslike you'll be well taken care of, atleast for the time being." the surgeonfish reassured her.

Shell nodded. "Atleast its nothing new to me." she smiled optimistically.

A small net descended into the small bowl, scooping the Idol up and gently placing her into a water filled plastic bag. Shell gave a final wave at her friend then settled to the bottom of the bag, curious at what this new life would bring. She closed her eyes and soon began to dream. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, LittleAwkwardChild here. Sorry I didn't post an author's note on Chapter one, still new to fanfiction. I really hope you enjoy the story :) Please review, and always, just keep swimming :) I apologize for the few misspellings here, I did my best to get rid of them**

Shell awoke once more in a bag. This time, it was on the counter of a brightly lit dentist's office. She examined her surroundings. A large burly man, with gray hair was talking to the fisherman, Jimmy. Through the plastic she couldn't make out the words. She looked around more. A large window overlooking the ocean sat to her left, and behind her was a large fish tank, colorfully decorated with a volcano and tiki heads. She looked at the inhabitants, or at least the ones she could see, a yellow tang, a pufferfish and a blue humbug. She stared at them curiously, gave a little smile and a wave.

"Getting used to your new friends eh?" came an unfamiliar voice.

Shell turned around, and stared at the gray haired man. "Don't worry little girl, I got you well taken care of. Let's get you out of that bag eh?" He picked her up and untied the knot and dumped her into the tanks. Shell looked around at her new surroundings. It was probably one of the nicer tanks she'd lived in. She looked at the blue pebbles and synthetic seaweed. She then swam to the glass over looking the counter she had just been on, hoping to meet her new tank companions. She didn't have long to search, she soon ran into the blue humbug talking to what appeared to be her reflection. She spun around quickly startling Shelly. "Hi" she gave a warm smile.

"Hello..." Shelly greeted her back, returning the smile. "I'm-" she was cut off.

"Whose this?" came a loud voice from behind Shell. She spun around and looked the pufferfish she had seen whilst on the counter smiled down at her. The bright yellow Tang peeked out from behind him.

"I'm Shell, and you are?" she asked politely.

"Deb." Came the humbug's cheerful reply.

"Bloat" the pufferfish smiled, "And this guy-" he gestured to the Tang "Is-"

"BUBBLES" the tang let out a cry and swam past the young Idol to a treasure chest bubbler. "Bubblesthebubblesthebubbles" he gibbered.

Shell gave an amused snort, this behavior uncommon in most fish, aside from very young ones, but judging by his size, this Tang was an adult, like her.

"And that's Bubbles." came a new voice, one coming from a pink starfish. "I'm Peach by the way."

Shell smiled at her. "Nice to meet you. Is this everyone?" She asked curiously.

"Nah, just the welcoming committee." Bloat laughed. "The three other guys we live with, Gurgle, Jacques, and Gill are all off somewhere else in the tank. You'll meet them soon enough. So where are you from?" he asked.

"I originally came from Bob's Fish Mart." she answered.

"Oh same here, never crossed tail with you though. Must've been in the more exotic section eh?" Bloat laughed. Shell just nodded and continued with her story.

"This little human bought me, and kept me in a small tank. She must've seen some nature documentary on fish because she suddenly scooped me into a net, placed me in a small bowl, with tap water which was strange then ran me out to the harbor and threw me in telling me it was where I should be. I swam around a bit then got caught in a fisherman's net and placed in a bowl and brought here."

Her new tank mates shared interested looks. "Well we'll let you get settled, feeding time will be soon, and you'll meet everyone else. If you need anything, we'll be around" Deb told her smiling as she always did.

Shelly swam slowly away from the fish, and began to do her own tour of the tank. Her first order of business was to find a place to sleep, since she found she desperately needed some. She looked for a dark place, well away from the eyes of any curious humans. She found a small skull decoration, that appeared to be hollow. Curious she looked for a possible opening. She found one in the back, when she heard a noise from within. She quickly jolted back, and went to find another spot. She eventually found a cluster of seaweed that looked nice enough and settled down for some shut eye. She closed her eyes but sleep evaded her. Shell sighed angrily and picked herself up, and continued to swim aimlessly around the tank. She was a bit to aimless in her path though the tank since she found herself running into the glass. She recoiled and rubbed her head with her fin. She drifted to the bottom and began to nibble at the tiny bit of algae growing on it. A mechanical voice though startled her.

She looked up and saw a metal box, with a red light scanning the tank. Shell stared at it in confusion. It had to be some newfangled filter. She swam up to it to study it closer. There were strange markings on the side she couldn't completely read. "Ugh human language is so complicated" she thought to herself. She was trying to figure them out when a loud crash jolted her. She looked for the source of the noise and saw a pelican pop up and open the window. She knew pelicans ate fish like her so she scooted back in alarm. Then, much to her little fish mind's surprise Deb and Bloat swam toward him.

"Newcomer?" The pelican asked Deb curiously. She nodded and told him the story of how she came to be here. The pelican smiled at her. Shell cautiously swam toward him. Once she got closer he greeted her. "I'm Nigel, friends if the fish acquired by Diver Dan over there." He gestured to the waiting room where the dentist was talking to another human.

"I'm Shell." she introduced herself.

Nigel gave her a warm smile, then turned to Bloat. "Has any of you seen Gill by the way, I need to talk to him about your next escape plan..."

"I'm right here." Came a stony voice. Shell turned and saw an intimidating looking Idol like herself swim toward the pelican. He regarded her for a moment, then turned and looked at Nigel.

Nigel nodded. "I'll make it quick, Mr Bird hater won't be gone forever. I reckon, some night or early morning I could sneak my way in here, pop the lid off and you guys could hop in and I'll take you to the harbor."

Shell looked at the Idol and the Pelican in confusion. Fish hatching an escape? She herself had come up with bogus, funny ideas but never dreamed of pulling them off. It seemed useless to her, so why bother? She continued to listen to the conversation.

"It seems too risky" the new fish, Gill, was saying. "But it may be our last option, if we can't break this damn filter." Nigel nodded, and Gill went on talking about how awkward Nigel's body was getting in and out the window and other things.

Shell busied herself with looking at the strange dentist office, the conversation losing her interest. She was curious what all those sharp objects and chair were for. The pictures of human teeth and strange markings didn't further her understanding at all. Finally the door opened and the dentist walked in, accompanied by a little human.

"Oi, oi, crazy bird get out of here!" he yelled when he saw Nigel, and slammed the window shut and locked it. He then saw Shell. "Hey there little girl. Used to your new tank it seems. See you've met my other Idol. You two be nice now..." he walked off and started talking to the little human who was seated on the strange chair.

Shell looked over at Gill, who regarded her with his ruby eyes once more. This time he adressed her. "Where you from kid?" he asked. "Not many Idols in pet stores these days."

"Bob's Fish Mart" she answered. "Born in captivity, you?" she asked trying to make conversation with him.

"The Ocean." he answered and looked out the window. "Which is, as you probably have heard, is why I'm very keen to get out of here." She followed his gaze at the harbour and boats. She didn't see how wonderful it was, from her small view it was gray and boring.

She looked at him again and finally asked, although she already knew, what his name was. He answered, then said he had to see to something else. Another escape idea, Shell reckoned.

00000000

Gill swam toward his skull, passing Gurgle and Bloat who were arguing about something once again. He thought about what this newcomer, an Idol like him would bring to the tank. The former companions, Mina, an old snail who died shortly after joining the gang, Chuckles, and his surrogate son of sorts, Nemo all were different, as was this young Idol. In hindsight, she didn't seem all that young. She carried herself like an adult, and didn't sound like one either. Gill spotted Peach clinging to the glass on the corner of the tank. He swam up next to her. "What's her name?" he asked his friend.

Peach looked at him for a moment, then at the female Idol who was talking to Deb and Jaques. "Shell. Didn't you ask her?"

He shook his head. "I've been distracted, coming up with new ways to get us out. After Nemo, I just knew we had a chance. When we properly initate her in a few nights I'll introduce my plan to the Gang." He gave a wry smile at the starfish then swam off. Peach rolled her eyes after him. She hoped he would try to be somewhat welcoming with this new fish, as he had been with Nemo. God, she really hoped that little clownfish found his dad alright.

Shell came over to her a little while later, curious about these escape plans, soon however the topic turned to Gill. "Why does he want to get back to the Ocean anyways?" she asked Peach.

"He was born there. I guess he just really wants to get back home. You should ask him about it sometime, he really gets goingm telling stories of when he was young and the things he and his friends would do in the reef." Peach told her.

Shell gave a shrug of her fins. "How long has he been here anyways?" she asked.

It was Peach's turn to shrug. "Never said how long exactly. He was the first in here, and judging by how he looks maybe two years. I'd place him at five years old. Maybe a bit more. It's hard to tell with his scars."

"Scars?" Shell asked. "I didn't notice any scars. Then again I only saw his left side..."

"They're on his right side. I guess its good that you didn't notice them before you saw me, he can be a bit touchy about them. Doesn't like fish staring or whatever. He's actually a nice fish, once you get to know him." Peach added.

Shell kept that in mind for when she ran into him next. She had never shared a tank with the same species as her, even the pet store she originally came from didn't have many like her. Idols were hard creatures to keep in captivity, she herself prone to illness at changes in nitrate levels and temperature. She also rarely ate the dry pellets given to them, she prefered the algae found growing in the cracks of the rocks, thus she concluded, did make her a hard fish to care for. But she had lived this long, and didn't see herself dying anytime soon. Who knows maybe she'd accompany this colorful troupe of fish to the ocean.


End file.
